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Frans Johansson

Author of the bestseller The Medici Effect

"An Afternoon with Frans Johansson"

Friday, April 9, 2010
Apollo Room, Student Union

Frans Johansson is an author, speaker, and entrepreneur. His bestselling book The Medici Effect was selected as one of the top 10 best business books by Amazon.com and named one of the best innovation books of the year by several organizations. It has been translated into 17 languages.

The Medici Effect explores the concept of cross-field and cross-cultural combinations and offers clear guidance on how to make such an approach work effectively. Johansson spent three years talking to individuals and teams at the intersection of different disciplines and cultures. He combined the results from those interviews with decades of existing research in psychology, economics, and management of creativity and innovation. Johansson explains that three driving forces—the movement of people, the convergence of scientific disciplines, and the leap in computational power—are increasing the number and types of intersections we can access. From CEOs, derivative traders, scientists, fashion designers, authors, and public health administrators, Johansson shows audiences how to find the intersection and unleash the Medici Effect.

Johansson has been living in the intersection most of his life. He was raised in Sweden by his African American and Cherokee mother and Swedish father. Johansson earned his B.S. in environmental science at Brown University and his M.B.A. at Harvard Business School. Johansson founded both a Boston-based software company and a medical device company operating out of Baltimore, Maryland, and Stockholm, Sweden. He has written articles on health care, information technology, and the science of sport fishing. He has been featured on CNN’s AC360, ABC's Early Morning Show, and CNBC’s The Business of Innovation series along with Jack Welch and Muhammad Yunus.